| |
Newsroom /
Education
/
College Or University
/
CAT 2011: Last lap strategies for CAT 2011: Expert mantras - Part 2
CAT 2011: Last lap strategies for CAT 2011: Expert mantras - Part 2
It is exactly 9 days to go for CAT 2011 test phase to begin. As the date is approaching towards the D Day, you must be getting all worked up for the biggest MBA entrance exam. MBAUniverse.com approached the top CAT experts to know what is their advice for the CAT 2011 takers in these last few days. In the first part of the article, you have known the ways to revise and take mock tests.
In the second part of the article, we talk about the strategies to manage your strengths, weaknesses and main
Noida,
UP,
India
(prbd.net)
13/10/2011
It is exactly 9 days to go for CAT 2011 test phase to begin. As the date is approaching towards the D Day, you must be getting all worked up for the biggest MBA entrance exam. MBAUniverse.com approached the top CAT experts to know what is their advice for the CAT 2011 takers in these last few days. In the first part of the article, you have known the ways to revise and take mock tests.
In the second part of the article, we talk about the strategies to manage your strengths, weaknesses and maintain your composure for the D Day.
Read on to know more about them.
Strengths: You should not ignore your strong areas thinking that you will sail off smoothly on the D Day. Lack of regular practice may lead you to a tough situation. Now that you have already figured out of strong areas, you should hone them so that they can get even stronger. While you are working on your strong areas, the first thing you need to do is to understand whether you have consistently done well in these areas to label them as strengths or was your performance purely incidental?
Tony Xavier, Academic Head, IMS Learning says, “In case of the first eventuality, the next issue you need to address is whether these areas emerged as strengths in a fair distribution of time across all sections or areas of the test or due to significantly more time allocated to these areas? If it is the first case, then it is infallibly strength; you need to sustain the tempo and ensure that it stays as a cash cow for you.” But in case it isn’t, he further adds, “You need to ensure that the same performance is upheld in a certain desirable time frame. With sectional time-limits, you need to sacredly anchor on to an instruction which requires you to be competent across both sections of the test.”
If you find out that the performing well in an area was simply due to luck or coincidence, you should immediately term them as your weaker areas.
Weaknesses: For your weak areas, you need to understand the core reasons for not doing well in these areas. Xavier suggests the most common weaknesses and remedies:
• Inherent dislike for these areas, due to which students start ignoring them. For example, most of the students have a natural antipathy towards ‘permutations & combinations’ and they start shying away from questions on this topic; consequently, even the easier questions on this topic get overlooked on that day and this adds to the ‘opportunity cost’. You need to prepare all topics and areas of the test—which ones do you finally respond to or attempt would be a function of multiple variables.
• Not being able to spend adequate time on these areas, due to which your performance gets marred. The sequence of attempting questions from different areas would vary from one test taker to another and equilibrium would evolve only over a period of time.
• Conceptual flaws and loopholes in these areas, whereby they assume the proportions of ‘weaknesses’. This requires an immediate attention to fundamentals and revisiting concepts. Unless the requisite conceptual clarity is there, application of these concepts would be a farfetched expression!
Maintain your composure: In your entire preparation duration, the most important factor is to maintain your composure. If you are stressed, you will inevitably not be able to give your best shot. As Nishit Sinha, CAT expert, author and IIM Lucknow alumnus says, “Your aptitude will be based on your reaction time to a question. The more stressed your brain would be, the more reaction time you will take.” He suggested that you shouldn’t be so immersed in the preparation that you will miss out on the other important tasks which you are supposed to do if you are a serious MBA aspirant. “Don’t miss filling up XAT 2012 and SNAP 2011 forms which are the most substantial MBA entrance exams after CAT. Also, based on your percentiles you are getting in the mock tests, you should apply to the CAT allied institutes,” suggests Sinha.
To read the Part 1 of the article, click on the following link:
Top experts on last minute strategy for CAT 2011: Part 1
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on CAT 2011 preparation.
About
MBAUniverse.com is one of India's most comprehensive MBA portals.
|